A portable, self heating container has important uses. For example, programs for exploration of the planets have required that precautions be taken to prevent any potentially hazardous organisms from contaminating the Earth between the time when the sample is brought to the Earth on a space vehicle and the time when the sample is brought to a control laboratory on the Earth. A container is required whose outer surface is sterilized at some point prior to entering the Earth's atmosphere, but without administering excessive heat to the contents of the container that would damage the enclosed specimen. Such a container must be efficient, of low weight, simple, and pose no hazard to the spacecraft. A similar type of container would be useful in passing a container into or out of a biologically hazardous laboratory (such as where recombinant DNA experiments are conducted).
A container which can heat the inside walls of the container and/or the contents therein, is also useful in a variety of situations, as in providing sterilizing facilities for field hospitals and other emergency situations, where a lightweight device is necessary which can rapidly apply high sterilizing temperatures.